Intel P965: Mid-Range Performance Sector Roundup
by Gary Key on October 20, 2006 9:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Abit AB9 Pro: Feature Set
Abit has delivered a well optioned and performance oriented P965 board that sells for around US $145. We tested with the 1.5 beta BIOS release after having some issues with overclocking utilizing the 1.4 BIOS. Also, the 1.5 BIOS allows downward multipliers with the Core 2 Duo processors while further improving system performance and stability. Our issues with the BIOS revolved around its pinkish display color but more importantly the fact that Abit only allows the basic four memory timings to be changed (tCAS, tRCD, tRP, tRAS). For a board of this caliber we believe this is definitely a mistake. The ability to increase the CPU voltage to 1.725V and memory to 2.50V is impressive considering the offerings on the other P965 based boards. However, we wish the memory settings above 2.30V were available in .05V increments.
One area where Abit has constantly led all others is in the ability to overclock and monitor most system functions from Windows. Abit once again includes their excellent µGuru Windows utility that allows the user to overclock the system, change certain voltages, adjust fan speeds, and monitor hardware settings in real time without the need for rebooting. The OC Guru worked very well during our overclock testing and was a pleasure to use without resorting to the constant reboot procedure utilized by other Windows based utilities.
We also set the automatic overclocking to the Turbo setting and were greeted with a 7x288FSB setting for a CPU speed of 2016MHz that we would not consider turbo speed. Our memory was set to DDR2-800 but with 5-5-5-15 settings. This represents an 8% overclock of our component choices. Further information about this class leading utility can be found here.
| Abit AB9-Pro | |
| Market Segment: | Mid-Range Performance |
| CPU Interface: | Socket T (Socket 775) |
| CPU Support: | LGA775-based Pentium 4, Celeron D, Pentium D, Pentium EE, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Extreme |
| Chipset: | Intel P965 + ICH8R |
| Bus Speeds: | 100 to 600 in 1MHz Increments |
| Memory Speeds: | Auto, 533, 667, 800 |
| PCIe Speeds: | Auto, 100MHz~200MHz in 1MHz Increments |
| PCI: | Fixed at 33.33MHz |
| Core Voltage: | Auto, Base CPU V to 1.7250V in 0.0250V increments |
| CPU Clock Multiplier: | Auto, 6x-11x in 1X increments if CPU is unlocked, downwards unlocked, Core 2 Duo |
| DRAM Voltage: | 1.75V ~ 2.50V in .05V or .10V increments |
| DRAM Timing Control: | SPD, 4 DRAM Timing Options |
| MCH Voltage: | 1.25V ~1.45 in .05V increments |
| ICH Voltage: | 1.50V ~1.70 in .05V increments |
| Memory Slots: | Four 240-pin DDR2 DIMM Slots Dual-Channel Configuration Regular Unbuffered Memory to 8GB Total |
| Expansion Slots: | 1 - PCIe X16 2 - PCIe X1 2 - PCI Slot 2.3 |
| Onboard SATA/RAID: | 6 SATA 3Gbps Ports - (RAID 0,1,5, 1+0,JBOD) - Intel ICH8R 2 SATA 3Gbps Ports - (RAID 0,1,JBOD) - JMicron JMB363 1 SATA 3Gbps Ports - Silicon Image 3132 1 e-SATA 3Gbps Ports - Silicon Image 3132 |
| Onboard IDE: | 1 ATA133/100/66 Port (2 drives) - JMicron JMB363 |
| Onboard USB 2.0/IEEE-1394: | 10 USB 2.0 Ports - 4 I/O Panel - 6 via Headers 2 Firewire 400 Ports by TI TSB43AB23 |
| Onboard LAN: | Gigabit Ethernet Controller - PCI Express Interface Realtek RTL 8168 |
| Onboard Audio: | Realtek ALC882D HD-Audio 8-channel CODEC |
| Power Connectors: | ATX 24-pin, 4-pin EATX 12V, 4-pin 12V Molex |
| I/O Panel: | 1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x PS/2 Mouse 1 x S/PDIF Optical In 1 x S/PDIF Optical Out 1 x Audio Panel 2 x RJ45 1 x eSATA 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 |
| BIOS Revision: | Award 1.5 |
Abit has delivered a well optioned and performance oriented P965 board that sells for around US $145. We tested with the 1.5 beta BIOS release after having some issues with overclocking utilizing the 1.4 BIOS. Also, the 1.5 BIOS allows downward multipliers with the Core 2 Duo processors while further improving system performance and stability. Our issues with the BIOS revolved around its pinkish display color but more importantly the fact that Abit only allows the basic four memory timings to be changed (tCAS, tRCD, tRP, tRAS). For a board of this caliber we believe this is definitely a mistake. The ability to increase the CPU voltage to 1.725V and memory to 2.50V is impressive considering the offerings on the other P965 based boards. However, we wish the memory settings above 2.30V were available in .05V increments.
One area where Abit has constantly led all others is in the ability to overclock and monitor most system functions from Windows. Abit once again includes their excellent µGuru Windows utility that allows the user to overclock the system, change certain voltages, adjust fan speeds, and monitor hardware settings in real time without the need for rebooting. The OC Guru worked very well during our overclock testing and was a pleasure to use without resorting to the constant reboot procedure utilized by other Windows based utilities.
We also set the automatic overclocking to the Turbo setting and were greeted with a 7x288FSB setting for a CPU speed of 2016MHz that we would not consider turbo speed. Our memory was set to DDR2-800 but with 5-5-5-15 settings. This represents an 8% overclock of our component choices. Further information about this class leading utility can be found here.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
62 Comments
View All Comments
JarredWalton - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
Oh, trust me, Gary tested with a LOT of RAM types and manufacturers. However, for the *benchmarks* he settled on one specific set of DIMMs. I think he's trying to put together some information on how the various boards worked with other RAM (see above comment from Gary). Cheers!stmok - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
LOL...I think its more like: "What the hell were the Abit engineers thinking?!"Based on your experiences, do you know if the Analog Devices AD1988A HD Audio Codec works in Linux? I wouldn't mind going for the ASUS P5B-E at the end of the year.
And finally, is the rev 1.02G mobo available now? Or in a few months time?
Gary Key - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
The 1.09 ADI AD1988A drivers worked fine in SUSE 10.1. Realtek has better support at this time but ADI seems to be catching up. Believe it or not, but we booted every board with SUSE 10.1 just to make sure they went to the desktop. We might even do a once in a while look at Linux down the road.
xsilver - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
what is the range of overclocking possible with pc6400 ram?without dividers? with dividers?
Gary Key - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
Good question, depends on the PC2-6400 RAM. We are working on something right now to answer your question with a few different modules.xsilver - Sunday, October 22, 2006 - link
probably something standard like corsair VS or something priced very similar if there is better performance elsewherexsilver - Sunday, October 22, 2006 - link
also I would assume that 1gig vs. 2gig makes no difference but if it does, it would be good to know.Madellga - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
Excellent review Gary. I also look forward for the round 2 and also for a 975/ATI/Nvidia reviews.Please try to mention the Vmch used for the overclocking results, as this says a lot about the motherboads also.
Gary Key - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
I am setting up a overclocking settings table and will try to show some additional results with different memory types that we used in testing. I have no idea when this will be finished. ;-)Ryan Norton - Saturday, October 21, 2006 - link
This article is terrific-- now I just need to read the high-end part and I can finally put together a Core 2 Duo system.Will the DS4 be included in the high-end guide? I don't want a DQ-6 because the copper backplate under the processor socket would prevent installation of a Scythe Ninja heatsink.
Are the AHCI issues going to stay the way they are, with needing to load the drivers from a floppy disk during Windows install, or are there any P965 boards that don't require "an engineering degree and a day off" as you guys said?